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Friday, January 27, 2012

Smoky Spicy Chicken and Noodles

This is another installment of my "Something with Chicken" meals, when I have no idea what dinner might be as I leave for work. I took chicken out of the freezer, and as the day went on, thought about other things we had on hand, and gradually created a meal.

That is really one of the keys to being able to make good, homecooked meals every day, is having some staple ingredients available, and a little imagination. We had about 11 pounds of bacon taking up a monumental amount of space in our refrigerator (now relocated to the freezer), so chicken and bacon sounds good together, right? And I have one solitary jalapeno left. Bacon and jalapenos are two of my favorite foods on earth, so this is really "Lisa's Dinner". I should note this is not very spicy, as my temptation is always to add extra heat. Just a little bacon, and a little jalapeno make this perfect. You could also just use the sauce recipe with pasta and have an awesome dish just like that.

I wanted a creamy sauce to go over noodles, so here it is !

Smoky Spicy Chicken and Noodles
1/4 pound of smoky bacon, cut in pieces
1 pound chicken breast tenders
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large jalapeno, diced finely
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces pepper jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces egg noodles

In a large skillet, fry bacon until brown and crispy, remove from pan. Season chicken tenders with cumin, salt and pepper, and brown in bacon grease, about 5 minutes per side, until golden brown and cooked through. Move to a plate and cover with foil. Deglaze the pan with chicken stock. Start a pot of water to boil at this point for your egg noodles. Add milk and jalapeno to the chicken stock, bring to a boil, then add the cream cheese. When cream cheese is melted, lower to a simmer and add the garlic powder and pepper jack cheese. Simmer while waiting for the water to come to a boil. Cook egg noodles according to package directions. When noodles are done, drained, and stir into sauce, and then add bacon back to the sauce as well. Leave sauce to simmer for another 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve with sliced chicken tenders over the top.

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